Background: To minimize absenteeism resulting from influenza, employers frequently offer on-site influenza vaccination to employees. Yet the level of uptake of vaccine is low among working adults. This study was designed to increase workplace influenza vaccination rates by offering both a choice of intranasal (LAIV) and injectable (TIV) influenza vaccines to eligible employees, and an [...] Read more »

Background: Interventions to increase children’s physical activity have had limited success. One reason may be that children and their parents overestimate children’s levels of physical activity, although there is a small amount of data on this topic.Purpose: This study aims to assess awareness of physical activity levels among British school children aged 9–10 years and [...] Read more »

Background: With the epidemic of childhood obesity, there is national interest in state-level school policies related to nutrition and physical activity, policies adopted by states, and relationships to youth obesity.Purpose: This study develops a comprehensive state-level approach to characterize the overall obesity prevention policy environment for schools and links the policy environments to youth obesity [...] Read more »

Background: Although adverse health effects of prolonged TV viewing have been increasingly recognized, little population-wide information is available concerning subgroups at greatest risk for this behavior.Purpose: This study sought to identify, in a U.S. population–derived sample, combinations of variables that defined subgroups with higher versus lower levels of usual TV-viewing time.Methods: A total of 5556 [...] Read more »

Background: The worksite represents a promising venue in which to address the issue of obesity.Design: Pair-matched, cluster-RCT. Data were collected from 2005 to 2008 and analyzed in 2008.Setting/participants: A random sample of 806 employees was selected to represent the workforce of six hospitals in central Massachusetts.Intervention: The 2-year ecologic intervention sought to prevent weight gain [...] Read more »

Background: The worksite represents a promising venue in which to address the issue of obesity.Design: Pair-matched, cluster-RCT. Data were collected from 2005 to 2008 and analyzed in 2008.Setting/participants: A random sample of 806 employees was selected to represent the workforce of six hospitals in central Massachusetts.Intervention: The 2-year ecologic intervention sought to prevent weight gain [...] Read more »

Background: There is limited information about the clustering of health behaviors in older people.Purpose: This study aims to examine clustering of smoking, low levels of physical activity, and risky drinking in older adults and the relationship of these behaviors with measures of SES.Methods: Data on health behaviors were analyzed from 11,214 individuals aged ≥50 years [...] Read more »

Background: Secondary stroke prevention guidelines recommend antithrombotic agents such as over-the-counter aspirin, prescription antiplatelet agents, or anticoagulant agents.Purpose: The study was designed to measure whether use of outpatient antithrombotic agents is increasing among stroke survivors.Methods: The sample consisted of 4168 people who self-reported cerebrovascular disease and who participated in the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, an [...] Read more »

Background: Similar to the well-documented racial inequities in health status, disease burden, healthcare access, and hospitalization, studies have generally found higher rates of hospitalization resulting from ambulatory care–sensitive conditions for blacks compared to whites. Beyond identifying disparity in rates of disease or risks of hospitalization, identifying disparity in age at hospitalization may provide deeper insight [...] Read more »

Background: Influenza vaccination for family members of patients with cancer lowers patients’ risk of influenza and related complications.Purpose: This study aims to examine the utilization of influenza vaccination among such families.Methods: Individuals directly or indirectly affected by cancer and a cancer-free control group were identified from the 2005 and 2006 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey: current [...] Read more »